Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

2011

Directed by David Yates

Quick Synopsis… In the saga’s final installment, Harry and friends continue their quest to vanquish Voldemort. Just as things begin to look hopeless, Harry discovers a trio of magical objects that endow him with powers to rival Voldemort’s formidable skills.

• Seeing as how this is the final movie in the Harry Potter series, if you haven’t seen the seven that came before it, you may not get much out of this post.
• That, or this post will spoil much of the story.
• Because this post will definitely contain spoilers for the series as a whole and, in particular, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.
• For example, I’d like to point out that a plus to skipping the first part is not having to cry over Dobby the House Elf dying. Again.
• This does, of course, pick right up where the last movie left off, with Voldemort robbing Dumbledore’s tomb of the Elder Wand.
• The Elder Wand, if you’ll remember, is one of the three Deathly Hallows, the other two being Harry’s Cloak of Invisibility and the Resurrection Stone.
• Harry devises a plan to access Bellatrix LeStrange’s vault at Gringott’s, expecting to find a horcrux within.
• It’s kind of fun to watch Helena Bonham Carter playing Hermione trying to act like Bellatrix.
• Prior to heading into Gringott’s, Harry talks to Olivander about the wands they procured during their encounter with the Death Eaters at the Malfoy mansion.
• One of those wands belonged (past tense) to Bellatrix LeStrange.
• Why, then, when they get to Gringott’s, is it such a big deal when the goblins ask “Bellatrix” for identification in the form of her wand? Why not just hand it over?
• Am I missing something important about that? Help me out, Potter fans.
• Anyway, shenanigans ensue and our heroes are successful in obtaining the cup of Helga Hufflepuff, the fourth horcrux.
• It’s at this point that Voldemort figures out what Harry is trying to do.
• By destroying the horcruxes, he’s destroying shards of Voldemort’s soul which will, ultimately, allow Voldemort to be killed once and for all.
• Next stop: Hogwarts.
• Harry encounters Aberforth Dumbledore, who tries to cast some serious doubt on his deceased brother’s intentions and trustworthiness.
• But he does provide them with a secret entrance into the school.
• Harry confronts Snape. Kind of a brilliant scene… especially considering, at this point, we still believe Snape to be loyal to the Death Eaters.
• Although, I’d like to remind you that, a couple weeks ago, I pointed out that Snape’s real loyalties shone through during Prisoner of Azkaban.
• He seeks out the Lost Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, the fifth horcrux.
• Through Voldemort’s loud thoughts, Harry also discovers that Nagini, Voldemort’s snake, is the sixth horcrux.
• When Voldemort figures out that the Elder Wand is not truly loyal to him, he decides he has to kill Snape in order to gain the wand’s loyalty.
• Harry watches helplessly as Snape is sacrificed.
• But he’s able to collect Snape’s expository memories before he dies, taking them to the pensieve in the Headmaster’s office, revealing the truth of Severus Snape.
• Snape’s story is heartbreaking. And it completely changes the way you see him in every movie up to this point.
• And it’s in these memories that Harry discovers that he is the seventh horcrux that Voldemort never intended to create.
• By turning himself over to Voldemort to be killed, he is allowing Voldemort to destroy his own horcrux, leaving only the snake and Voldemort himself.
• It’s all very exciting… more so than it needs to be.
• It’s all very sad, too. A number of characters die in the Battle of Hogwarts, aside from Severus Snape.
• In the end, good triumphs over evil.
• We all seem to focus on the “child” actors of these movies, so not enough praise is given to the adult stars who play each of their roles to perfection.
• Particularly when it comes to Alan Rickman playing Snape.
• Of course there are differences from the way certain things are portrayed in the book.
• That’s to be expected.
• I just don’t understand the decision to have Harry snap the Elder Wand in two and toss it into a the ravine.
• In the book, if I’m remembering correctly, he used the Elder Wand to mend his own broken wand, then placed it back in Dumbledore’s tomb, where it belonged.
• That’s a change they really didn’t have to make.
• Here endeth the Harry Potter series.

That is, until Warner Bros. decided they couldn’t give up this cash cow and went ahead with a five-movie prequel series based on the obscure side book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Five. Movies. Two of which have already been made… the last one not doing so hot in the box office. Oh, and let’s not forget about the sequel play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I read it… didn’t care for it. Kind of retconned the time travel rules set up in Prisoner of Azkaban, but whatever. It’s not my world. It’s J.K. Rowling’s.

Come back next week for a movie that’s based on actual events in which Tom Hanks tells Houston they have a problem.